CLOSE: A motorist towing a caravan overtakes a stationary vehicle as a truck looms on the Grafton Bridge.Facebook/ Sam Joyce

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Motorist's actions 'not intentional'

by ebony.stansfield

10th Jan 2019 1:00 AM
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THE viral dash cam video of a near miss on the Grafton Bridge ignited plenty of debate, but Natasha Watkinson who witnessed the incident said the motorist overtaking wasn't someone being intentionally reckless or dangerous.

The footage uploaded to Facebook shows a motorist stopping to give way to an oncoming B-Double truck on Grafton Bridge.

Another vehicle towing a caravan then overtakes the stopped motorist over double lines and continues towards the corner with a B-Double truck in its path.

This close call saw the motorist towing the caravan almost collided with the truck, but luckily both stopped in time.

But Ms Watkinson who was two cars behind the caravan said the motorist with the dash cam suddenly stopped to allow the truck to give way and given the weight of the caravan and speed the driver swerved to avoid a rear end collision.

"He did not intentionally overtake,” she said.

She said the video has been "blown way out of proportion”.

"It was a near miss and all parties are lucky to walk away with no incident. It wasn't someone being intentionally reckless or dangerous,” she said

"The truth is, there wouldn't be a person who resides in our area who hasn't been caught on the bridge.”

She said drivers get distracted looking at the river and cars stop suddenly for heavy vehicles to use both lanes.

"Yet in this instance everyone was so quick to call the driver an idiot and a poor driver. The driver made a mistake and didn't ask for the footage to be published,” she said.

Ms Watkinson said the way the driver manoeuvred their caravan to get out of the truck's way showed their skill in driving.

"They were caught out in a moment, as many of us often are; if we are brave enough to hold a mirror up and look at ourselves truthfully,” she said.